Comiskey Park (I will never refer to it as "The Cell")

On Tuesday 3.19 a couple of my friends and I were invited to an event by a parent of one of my students. She, Donna Binbek, is the publisher and editor of Pour Magazine (http://www.pourmagazinechicago.com/- for those of you that love wine and great food). The event was held at the Stadium Club in Comiskey Park. For as many times as I've been to Sox Park, I'd never ventured into the Stadium Club. It's for the elite Sox

fans ( I guess). Well, needless to say, I've been ruined! The seats in the Upper Deck next to God will no longer be good enough. Oh, the shame of being spoiled!!

The three of us were totally stricken when we approached the doors. I thought for sure we'd be turned away- they would have been able to sense we didn't make six figures (well, maybe we did combined). But! They let us in- how silly of them!!

There were food stations with delicious food and an entire dessert bar upstairs! This gig cost us nothing! Free food, free drinks, free music?! We felt like wedding crashers!!

A big THANKS to Donna for getting us in!! We've been invited to the Civic Opera House on April 22nd. I'll let you know how that one goes as well.

Lily

Hi there everyone!

Well, let me tell you, yesterday I went to my friend Sara's house to take photos of her darling daughter, Lily. This kid is beautiful!! She comes from good, Irish stock and it shows.

She's got a little bit of hair which will be beautiful and red! Her eyes are a crisp blue and her skin is alabaster. She gets that from Sara. Everything else is Aaron. Sara jokes that when Lily is up on Aaron's shoulder it looks like he has two heads. Lily is off the charts tall- her dad is well over six feet and Sara eeks past five feet. Trying to take a picture of them together is always quite a challange- his head is usually chopped off or she's missing part of her chin.

Anyhow, I've included a picture of this little lass! Isn't she beautiful?

Craigslist

I put my first ad up on Craigslist.com. There is an enormous amount of people on that site looking for things. How are you supposed to make sure that they stop and check you out?
I know that I hate reading a lot in what are supposed to be short descriptions. I move past those. I visit the ones that have links to pages or photos up. I skip those with poor grammar or spelling- If they cannot spell it, I do not trust them enough to be in charge of it.
What are your thoughts on how to make someone want to visit your ad? Do any of you use Craigslist? What is it you look for?

Spring Break!

So, today is the first day of Spring Break!! To those of you who are teachers, you understand the reverence we have for this phrase. To those of you who are parents, perhaps you're on the other end of this. We shout in jubilation, "Horray! Ten happy days!"
Here's how Thursday morning goes:
1. The alarm goes off
2. We linger in bed for a few minutes
3. We roll over (and here's the good part) we turn off the alarm- knowing full well that we won't hear it again for TEN DAYS
4. Get out of bed and continue our daily routine
5. Pray that the day goes off without a hitch and continue to look at the clock on the wall wondering why it's moving so slowly. Never have you wished time to hurry forward (well, at least since Winter Break)
6. Walk out at the end of the day, wish everyone a happy rest, get in your car and drive home. Perhaps you didn't even bring work home with you- Bless your heart! (I know I didn't!!)

The best is yet to come....
Here's how Friday goes:
1. You get up when you want!
2. You do what you want when you want to do it!!
3. There is no one nagging you, "Ms. Donnelly, tell Evan to give me my pencil back!" or "Ms. Donnelly, Jasmine is threatening to beat me up after school. Tell her to stop." or "Ms. Donnelly, Phillip breathed on my food and now I can't eat it. Tell him to stop!" You get the point...
I teach 8th grade. But now, I am just Sarah. No Ms. Donnelly for the next 10 days!!
4. Enjoy each quiet moment we have!

Spoiler- to those of you with children, perhaps you don't get to participate in the quiet, sleeping in, restful, no complaining days that childless or empty nester teachers have... sorry to offend!

The Arrival

Well, this has been a long time coming. It's official! I'm official!! Today, I gave birth to my new life. Sarah Donnelly Photography is now in effect!
Photography is something that has been my passion for as far back as I can remember. And, I am at a point in my life where if I don't do it now, I never will.
Please visit my website and let me know what you think. New images will be added after photo shoots- so make sure you visit often.
While the site is still a bit rough around the edges, I'm certain that time and experience will polish this baby up quite nicely.
Thank you for visiting!